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Avs-Flames Game 1 player grades: Are we sure this is the playoffs?

AJ Haefele Avatar
April 12, 2019

Tyson Barrie (D) – The QB of a PP that wasn’t even competitive despite four bites at the apple. The guy who was so good at the end of the regular season needs to stick around if Colorado is going to compete in this series.

Gabriel Bourque (C) – Outside of his scoring chance in the first period, I honestly don’t have anything else to say about him.

Derick Brassard (C-) – One of the few guys who did something on the PP I actually liked. He was okay on offense but the image of him standing nearby doing nothing on Calgary’s first goal is a brutal look. You’d like to see more from a guy who has previously been a playoff warrior.

Matt Calvert (C+) – Colorado’s fourth line had moments but Calvert was the best overall tonight. I’d like to see a little more of the feisty stuff from him because he’s going to be an emotional leader for this group.

Ian Cole (C-) – I thought Cole was really good early and tailed off as the game progressed. Him not having a body on Tkachuk on the second goal was a problem. The PK is going to have to get it together if this is going to be a competitive series.

J.T. Compher (C+) – I…liked Compher’s game tonight? I thought he was solid overall. I’d like to see a little more offense but I don’t think he was a problem tonight.

Samuel Girard (D) – I really didn’t like the defense tonight from just about anybody. Girard was part of that. He struggled in his limited postseason time last year because Nashville focused on hitting him constantly and he didn’t handle it well. For tonight, anyway, that continued. He needs to adjust.

Philipp Grubauer (B) – The first goal was a cavalcade of problems, with Grubauer as the final man back to bail them out and he did not. Goals two and three against weren’t the fault of Grubi, though, as they were just silly deflections. Might as well get them out of the way now.

Erik Johnson (D-) – He’s supposed to be Colorado’s best defenseman and he’s supposed to be really excited to play postseason hockey after missing last year. He got baited into a dumb penalty (also soft, yes) early on and then got swallowed up along the wall on Calgary’s first goal. The game was waiting for it’s first major mistake and EJ started the string that led to the bad news bears.

Tyson Jost (C-) – He had some really good moments and I liked what he did offensively but he had multiple shots at doing something meaningful to stop Mangiapane on the first goal and whiffed each time. This would have been a positive grade otherwise.

Alexander Kerfoot (C) – The Altitude broadcast kept talking about how great Kerfoot was but I just didn’t see it. I thought he was okay and I didn’t mind the play he made on the two on one with Girard because if that works it’s an easy goal but it didn’t so SHOOOOOOT, right? Haha. Hockey is hard, man.

Gabriel Landeskog (C+) – He was okay. I thought there were some great moments from him and Mike Smith made a great glove save on a backhand chance from Landeskog. That was a common theme tonight with Smith playing great.

Nathan MacKinnon (B-) – I really didn’t have a strong issue with how MacKinnon played tonight. He rang one off a post and Smith made a couple of nice saves along the way. MacKinnon easily could have been the star of the night with a few minor changes. He was still Colorado’s most dangerous player.

Patrik Nemeth (D+) – I liked his defense in some situations, obviously that two on one standing out. He also took a penalty that led to the second goal, which sure felt like the dagger in a low-event game like this. Not great, Bob.

Matt Nieto (C) – I can’t remember a single thing he was involved in, good or bad.

Mikko Rantanen (C-) – I’d like to see more from him but it was his first game back and he looked like he started to find his legs in the second half of the game there. I think he’ll be fine but the Avs definitely need him to step up this year in a way he struggled to against Nashville last year.

Carl Soderberg (D) – Turnovers and poor decisions really marred Soderberg’s night. He added a penalty to boot and it’s easy to say this is probably the worst we see from Carl in this series.

Colin Wilson (C-) – He continues to be a polarizing player for me to watch. He has an uncanny ability to win puck battles and create meaninful havoc along the boards but he doesn’t have the raw puck skill to do everything his brain is having him try to do. It’s a strange dynamic at play with Wilson where he reads the game well and can do some things at a high level and others are just blah. I never know how really to grade him on these types of nights.

Nikita Zadorov (D) – The physicality was there at times and I think the tripping penalty he was called for was dumb. He stuck his foot out while playing the puck and Gaudreau skated over it and that’s on Zadorov. It’s an optics call, especially with the two players involved, but whatever. It didn’t play a meaningful role in the game at that point. Z is going to need to be better offensively if Colorado is going to take games in this series.

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